Devil's Breath
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Greg has plans with Morgan one night until an unexpected call from an old friend changes everything. Soon after, Greg's life suddenly begins to spin out of control as the rest of his friends within the crime lab work to save him from what they know is impossible. This story takes place between the episodes, Ghosts of the Past in season 13 and the season finale, Skin in the Game.
1. Chapter 1

Devil's Breath

Chapter One

Two o'clock came around and last call was announced inside one of the many bars along the Vegas strip. A few minutes later, a man appearing in his mid-forties walked out and began to walk drunkenly to his car, parked just down the street. If it wasn't for the alcohol impairing his mind and better judgment, he would have sensed someone following him. Despite the many witnesses around, a shot was suddenly fired causing the drunkard to fall to his knees, then all the way down to the ground dead as blood seeped out from the now blossoming wound in his chest and onto the sidewalk. Once the shooter saw that his victim was dead, he ran off, still carrying the gun he used, before he could be caught.

Twenty-Four hours earlier…

Morgan Brody walked throughout the crime lab looking for Nick to give him a report she had filled out on a case they had just solved the night before. However, he seemed to be out somewhere and eventually she walked by Greg's office and found him reading a book, as tonight was a slow night and no one was currently working on a case. She slowly walked in and softly called out his name, causing him to jump as he swiftly closed the book and tried to hide it from her.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I didn't mean to startle you. What were you reading?"

"It's nothing," Greg replied as he started to pack his book in his bag until Morgan playfully swiped it from his hand. "Hey! Please don't… I…"

As soon as she saw what Greg was reading, her playfulness suddenly stopped as she handed it back and then apologized again saying, "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm so…"

Greg interrupted, "You don't have to apologize. It shouldn't bother me to explain that I have still been pursuing information about psychic abilities, pursuing what some people like my aunt might think is my gift, but after what happened in that slaughterhouse with those kids warning me I was in danger… I just can't ignore it anymore. If I truly have some ability, I want to know. Believe me, I know how strange it sounds."

"It isn't strange," Morgan answered kindly. "Whether psychics are real or not, something in that place saved your life. I'm willing to believe in the possibility that psychic phenomenon exists. We're all just glad you're all right."

"Thanks," Greg responded as he took out the book once again and stared at its cover.

Morgan replied, "Sure. Listen, I know that you probably have plans already for your night off tomorrow night, but in case you don't, I was wondering if you would like to come with me to the new jazz club that just opened up; you know, as a friend? There's dancing there too, but we don't have to do that if… I've been wanting to go, but so far, I haven't found anyone who's been free to come. What do you say?"

Greg smiled as he answered, "I'm not sure how good I'd be at dancing, but it sounds like fun. I can pick you up around eight?"

"Great!" she responded happily. "I'll see you later. I have to go find Nick and hand him my report from last night before Russell gets on my case again for forgetting to hand it in again."

"I know what you mean," he said. "See ya."

The next morning, after the night shift got out of work, Nick and Greg went out to breakfast at their usual diner and started discussing the little that went on through the night and eventually, Nick spoke up saying, "So, I heard that you and Morgan are going dancing tonight at that new jazz club that opened up. You finally had the guts to ask her out."

Greg scoffed as he replied, "For your information, she asked me to go with her. What do you mean, finally had the guts and how did you know we even discussed getting together tonight?"

"Come on, Greggo," Nick answered. "Everybody knows you've had a thing for Morgan ever since she arrived at the lab last year. And as for how I know, Henry overheard part of your conversation and might have mentioned it to a few people."

"Morgan and I are friends, nothing more," Greg responded.

Nick chuckled and then replied, "Yeah, sure man."

Before Greg could say anything more, his cell phone rang and when he looked down at the caller id, he quickly stood up and motioned to Nick that he had to take the call, then stood up and stepped outside. He was on for a few minutes and then came back in and apologized to Nick for stepping out.

Nick answered, "No problem. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just got a call from a good friend of mine, whom I haven't seen in a few years, due to him being out of the country for work," Greg responded strangely.

"So he's back, that's great," Nick said. "Isn't it?"

Greg replied, "Yes, no it is. It's just that he wasn't supposed to come back for another year and he sounded worried. He asked me to meet with him because he needs my help with something, though he wouldn't say what."

Nick spoke up again saying, "I'm sure it's going to be fine. I take it that you're going to call off your date with Morgan tonight then?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Greg answered. "She's going to be disappointed and probably won't want to ask me to go out with her again."

"I thought you said this wasn't a date?" Nick asked mockingly.

Greg stood up again as he began to pull out his wallet and responded, "It isn't a date. Look, I hate to eat and run, but I've got to get home to get to bed. I'm planning to meet him this afternoon."

Nick quickly pulled out his own wallet as he replied, "Don't worry about the bill, man. I've got this. I'll see you tomorrow night?"

"You know it," Greg answered. "And listen, please don't say anything about you thinking Morgan and I are dating to anyone else, especially around Russell. I don't want him to feel he has to warn me about dating within work, or anything else that I just don't want to hear about."

"You've got," Nick said. "I know what you mean. Good luck, man."

Greg grimly responded, "Yeah, something tells me, I'm going to need it."


	2. Chapter 2

Devil's Breath

Chapter Two

It was shortly before five o'clock in the afternoon on the day after Greg's night off when a knock came loudly at his door, causing Greg to stir, but not fully awaken as a wave of dizziness fell upon him once he attempted to open his eyes and so he ignored the knocking and wearily pulled his blanket up over his head, despite the more urgent the banging became. However, he was unable to fall back asleep when he suddenly felt someone shaking him gently and then pull back the blanket from off of his head.

"Greg, can you hear me?" Nick asked in concern as he leaned over him. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Greg answered sluggishly as he finally lifted his head and then slowly began to sit up, still wrapped up within the blanket while he attempted to clear his vision and mind to look up at his friend. "My head is killing me, and I… I must have had a little too much to drink last night, although, I don't remember drinking. Why are you inside my apartment?"

Nick backed off a little and then responded, "I tried calling you a few times before I came over and then decided to come over to see how things went with your friend last night. I knocked a few times, but you didn't answer. I was about to leave until I saw you lying here on your floor through the window and was worried that you were hurt so I kind of broke in. You may want to get a new lock for your door. You look like crap, man. You do realize that you have to work tonight, right?"

Greg slowly looked around and tried to become aware of his surroundings, then looked up at Nick as he replied, "I don't think I'm going to make it in tonight. Something doesn't… I don't feel right. I know what a hangover is like and this isn't it."

"Let me help you up and we can head down to… oh my god!" Nick began, then exclaimed fearfully as he looked his friend over, noticing what he knew to be blood covering his shirt as Greg finally pulled the blanket back. "Greg, you've got blood all over your shirt. What the hell happened last night? Are you hurt?"

"No, I don't know," Greg answered as Nick quickly began to look him over to check for any injuries that might explain the blood, fearing Greg might be injured. "I mean, my head hurts and my mind and vision are hazy, but nothing else is wrong, at least not that I know of."

Nick looked directly into his friend's eyes as he asked, "Greg, what did you do last night?"

As Greg struggled to think, he spoke again saying, "I don't… I can't remember. I can't remember anything!"

Twenty-five minutes later, D.B. and Julie arrived at Greg's apartment in order to speak with Greg and to begin a thorough examination of his place, while Nick and Morgan, who had arrived earlier with their kits, worked on examining him, as they would anyone else involved in the investigators' cases.

"Russell, I don't know why I can't remember what I did last night, but there's no way I could have hurt anybody," Greg pleaded as his boss and coworker walked over to them. "I wouldn't, but I can't explain the blood."

"Just relax, Greg," D.B. responded. "Try not to worry about anything right now. We all know that you would never harm anyone, but we do need to figure out whose blood is covering your shirt, or… did either of you already rule out animal blood?"

Without looking up from the tests he was running, Nick replied, "That was one of the first tests we ran aside from Greg's physical exam. The blood is definitely human. Right now, I'm running a test on his hands for possible gunshot residue."

Morgan spoke up as he said, "Thankfully, Greg isn't physically hurt in anyway, but his eyes are dilated and sensitive to the light. He says that his head is throbbing and he's having trouble focusing."

"What is the last thing you do remember?" Julie asked.

"I remember leaving work the morning of my day off and then going to breakfast Nick at the diner we usually go to," Greg began as he fought through the fog surrounding his mind. After that, I went home and went to bed."

Nick quickly added, "While we were at the diner, you received a call from your friend, remember? He called you to ask to meet up with you because you said he wanted your help with something, but you seemed nervous, like something felt off about you meeting up with him again."

Greg nodded and answered, "I vaguely remember getting that call, but I don't remember if I actually met up with him or not. My god, what if something happened to him?"

"Well, I can't tell you if the blood belongs to your friend or not or if he's okay, but I'm afraid your hands have tested positive for gunshot residue," Nick responded sullenly. "Man, I only ran the test in hope of ruling out that you hurt someone. I didn't actually expect to find anything."

"What if I killed them?" Greg asked fearfully. "What if I killed more than just one person?"

Russell spoke up again saying, "Easy; we don't know anything right now. What's important is that you go to the hospital in order to get yourself checked out by a doctor, just to make sure that there are no drugs in your system and to make sure that you're going to be all right. I promise that we'll do whatever it takes to help you, no matter what we find out. You're going to be fine."

Morgan replied, "Besides, you're the least of us that could ever be suspected of killing anyone."

"Then, you obviously don't know me as well as you think you do," Greg said angrily and then stormed out of his apartment in order to get some space before he headed to the hospital. Nick didn't follow right away, knowing that he needed to explain to everyone the details of the Demetrius James case, as none of his colleagues in the apartment were with the crime lab at the time.

"What's he talking about?" Morgan asked in confusion. "Greg isn't a killer."

Nick shook his head as he answered, "No, you're right. He's not a killer, but a part of him is still blaming himself and will always blame himself for killing a college student that attacked him one night when he drove down to a market in the city to collect a piece of evidence in our case at the time. A large group of students were going around beating up tourists for kicks. One of the victims was killed. When Greg arrived a few blocks from the store, he discovered the suspects beating one of the other victims in an alley. He turned down it and honked his horn in hope of scaring the kids away and it did; at first, except for one. Demetrius James didn't run and attempted to use a rock to finish off the kids' victim, but at last minute he turned and looked at Greg, still in his car. The student then ran toward Greg with every intent to kill him instead, so Greg had no choice, but to hit him with his vehicle. Greg killed him in self defense, but the kid's family, the public, and the media all gave him hell for it."

D.B. looked down, then turned to Morgan, and responded, "I heard about this case. After he defended himself, the other students came back, broke the driver's side window, and pulled Greg out, then began to beat him, nearly to death, right? He was lucky."

"My God," Morgan stated softly after the revelation.

"Stay with him, Morgan," D.B. replied. "Help give him the moral support and reassurance that he needs right now."

"I plan to," she replied.

"What do you think, Russ?" Nick asked after she left to find Greg. "We always arrest suspects with this much evidence stacked up against him. We can't do that to Greg."

It was then that Jim Brass walked inside as he said, "Don't worry, for now I can keep this quiet in order to buy you all little time, but be quick and know that if any more evidence appears that's bad news for our boy, I won't have a choice. I'll have to book him."

D.B. answered, "We understand. Thank you, Jim."

"Why don't we go find Greg's friend and see what he has to say," Julie spoke up again. "It's as good a place as any to start."

"Sounds good to me," Nick and Russell said simultaneously. "Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

Devil's Breath

Chapter Three

Jim Brass, D.B., and Julie all arrived at Greg's friend's hotel room, the number which Greg had given to them after he struggled to remember the conversation he had had with the man, and once they stood outside the door, Russell knocked three times until finally the friend opened up, stunned by the sight of what he believed to be three police officers.

Jim was the first to speak as he pulled out his badge and asked, "Tom Lovell?"

The man before the captain and CSIs' nodded as he responded, "Yeah, that's me. Can I help you?"

"I'm Captain Brass and these are CSI Russell and CSI Finlay, from the Las Vegas crime lab," he answered. "We're here in regards to one of ours, Greg Sanders. We understand you're and old friend and had plans to meet with him last night."

"That's right," Tom replied. "But Greg never showed last night. I tried to call him once or twice, but he didn't answer either. Did something happen to him? I just thought he decided not to come, or that something came up at last minute and he forgot to call me."

Russell took over for Brass as he responded, "For now, he's fine, but we've run into some trouble. Greg had mentioned to us that you're from out of town and that you called him to ask for a favor. Is that right?"

Lovell's eyes seemed to grow cold as he answered, "I know that you're concerned for Greg, as you're his coworkers and all, but I assure you that the reason for my call has nothing to do with whatever it is going on. As I already told you, we didn't meet up and I never heard from him since we talked yesterday morning. What I wanted to see him about is none of your business."

"Greg Sanders isn't just a coworker," Russell replied curtly. "He's our friend too and maybe what you wanted to see to him about is none of our business or concern, but we plan to do whatever it takes to help him and asking all the questions we can, is the first step in doing so. I suggest you plan to stay here in town for now, until we are able to single you out as a suspect."

"Are you accusing me of doing something to Greg, or whatever it is that is going on with him?" Tom asked.

Julie spoke up saying, "We don't mean to point any fingers. This conversation is just routine to rule out all possibilities until the right answer is found. I promise that as soon as we know anything, we'll let you know too."

Tom nodded and responded, "I would appreciate it. I'm guessing you've got my number too?"

"Yeah, we've got it all right," Jim answered. "We'll be in touch."

At the hospital…

After an hour of waiting impatiently for news on their friend, both Morgan and Nick looked on through a window outside an examination room where Greg was currently finishing up having blood drawn. They could see the weariness in his face, as well as the pain of whatever he was feeling then in his eyes. Ever since he had gotten into the car outside his apartment, he became silent and withdrawn, refusing to look up at his friends, despite their efforts to comfort him.

"How could this have happened?" Morgan asked softly.

Nick shook his head and then replied, "I don't know. We don't know what's happened to him yet, but whatever it is, it's obvious that whoever attacked him, did something to him that has caused his memory loss. I doubt that whatever he did last night was bad enough to cause him to forget on his own. He had to have been drugged."

It was then that a doctor finally walked out of the room as she responded, "If he was, we should find out within a few hours. We've sent his blood work to the lab. We'll to get the results back to you as soon as possible."

"Aside from the obvious, how's he doing, doc?" Nick asked. "I mean, he complained about a migraine earlier and there was blood covering his shirt? We looked him over back at his apartment before bringing him in and didn't see anything physically wrong with him, but if there was something we missed, surely you would have seen it."

"There isn't a mark on him," the doctor answered. "Physically, he's perfectly healthy. As for the pain in his head, the blood results will help us to know if it was caused by a drug, or if it is just a headache due to maybe something like a really bad hangover."

Morgan objected as she spoke up again saying, "He isn't drunk, doctor. Something's been done to him."

The doctor looked over at Morgan as she replied, "I didn't mean to imply that he did this to himself. From his silence and the look in his eyes, I believe you. I'd like to keep him hear overnight for observation, just to make sure that whatever was given to him doesn't cause anything more."

"Thank you, doc," Nick responded.

"Can I see him now?" Morgan asked.

The doctor answered, "Sure, but I wouldn't set your hope up. As you can see, he isn't much in the mood to talk. I have a feeling he'll remain this way for the time being."

Morgan nodded and replied, "I know."

Just as she was about to go in, Nick received a text from Russell, letting him know that Greg's friend was indeed alive and well. He quickly relayed to news to Morgan, who then turned toward Greg's room. Greg didn't look up as she entered and walked over to sit beside him on his bed.

"Your friend, Tom, is all right, Greg," Morgan said after both of them sat there in silence until she finally broke it after a few minutes. "Russell, Brass, and Julie just finished talking with him. He told them that you never met up with him, which means that whoever attacked you, do so before you could make it. This gives us a better idea of when it happened. Do you remember when you were supposed to meet up with him?"

"I can't… I can't remember," Greg finally responded somberly. "I'm of no help to you."

Morgan objected, "That isn't true. Just because you have no memory of the last twenty-four hours or so, doesn't mean that you haven't helped us and won't continue to help us. Don't give up on yourself or on us. We're going to figure this out."

Greg asked, "And what if you find that I really did kill someone. Things are certainly looking that way."

"You are not a killer, Greg," she answered as she placed her hand on his cheek and gently turned his head up to get him to look her in the eyes. "I know you better than everyone else. You have a good heart."

"If wish I could believe you," Greg replied.

Before she could say anything more, Nick suddenly knocked on the window and motioned for her to come out. She turned back to Greg, kissed him on his other cheek, then stood up, and left the room in order to find out what Nick needed to talk to her about. From the grim look on his face, she knew that it wasn't good news.

She quickly asked, "Nick, what's going on?"

Nick glumly responded, "I just got a call from Russell, who is on his way here right now. He just received a call from one of the techs left behind at Greg's apartment. They found a gun and it isn't Greg's service weapon."


	4. Chapter 4

Devil's Breath

Chapter Four

Morgan replied, "I can't believe this. So far, we've got blood covering Greg's shirt, gunshot residue all over his hands, and now a gun found inside his apartment, which will probably be tested positive for Greg's fingerprints, but what we don't have is a body. Is it just me, or does all of this look like a frame job to you too?"

Nick angrily responded, "A really good frame job. If things continue going the way they are, I'll bet that a body will show up before too long."

"I'm afraid a body's already shown up down on the strip early this morning," Jim spoke as he and Russell walked up to them. "Sara got the call and took it on her own, then was joined by a CSI on the day shift to help her out, seeing as the rest of us were all busy. The gun used to kill our victim was a nine millimeter, the same type of gun we found inside Greg's apartment."

"Yeah, but that kind of weapon is one of the most popular guns used," Nick protested.

D.B. looked through the window at Greg, who was once again staring off in the distance, and then answered, "Yes, but while David examined the body, Sara talked to several witnesses to the murder, all of whom got a good look at the shooter. Their accounts all match Greg's description."

Morgan objected as she angrily replied, "They're wrong. It's impossible. Greg would never kill anybody unless it was in self defense, like Demetrius James."

"I'm afraid the witnesses all state just the opposite," Jim responded. "They say that Greg walked straight up behind the victim and as he turned around, Greg fired a single shot into his chest, waited for our guy to fall dead, and then took off running before anyone could even try to catch him."

"What kind of drug is powerful enough to get Greg to kill a man and wipe out his memory for the last twenty-four hours?" Nick asked in confusion.

D.B. shook his head as he answered in frustration, "I don't know. Hopefully his tests results will get back soon."

Jim nodded and then grimly spoke up again saying, "Unfortunately, I've got no choice. I have to bring Greg in."

"I'm ready," Greg replied suddenly as he walked out from his room and put his arms up so that the captain could handcuff him.

"That won't be necessary," Brass responded as he lowered Greg's arms again and then gently squeezed his shoulder for comfort. "I know you didn't do this Greg, at least not without drugs, or force."

Greg looked between his friends and answered, "I'm glad all of you seem so confident that I didn't do this because I'm certainly not so sure. You've got to admit, all the evidence stacked up against me is pretty damning. Do me a favor, please don't try to tell me that I'm not a killer anymore. Just do what we do and find out the truth, even if the truth is not what we're hoping for."

As the rest of the CSI's watched Jim escort Greg away, Morgan said, "This isn't right. How did this spin out of control so fast? Even if we can prove Greg's innocence, he will never be the same again. You both saw the look on his face? He's given up all hope."

"Then, we just have to give it back to him," D.B. spoke up again. "We're going to get everyone on this. Evidence against him may be piling up, but we're going to get to the bottom of this. Greg may be our shooter, but I'll bet you anything that whoever did this to Greg, has left behind evidence too. Greg's friend, Tom Lovell, is involved in this somehow. I want us to find out everything there is to know about this guy, as he is for now, our number one suspect."

Back at the crime lab…

Julie walked through the hallways toward the morgue in order to talk to Dr. Robins and David about their victim's death, despite knowing that the cause of death was definitely a bullet to the chest. She hoped that the doctor might have something that could actually help Greg, instead of convicting him.

"Is it true?" Sara suddenly asked angrily as she rounded the corner and walked up to Julie just before she entered the room. "Is Greg really our shooter?"

Julie walked inside, followed by Sara, causing Dr. Robbins and David to look up from their examination of the body, then she turned to her, and replied, "It looks that way. I know that you want to protest, as do I, but the evidence doesn't lie."

The doctor turned to them and responded, "I certainly hope that you are also able to find evidence as to why all this has happened. That young man doesn't deserve to be sent to a place where real psychopaths and murderers are held."

"No, he doesn't," David agreed.

"I know," Julie said. "Other than the obvious cause of death, doc, were you able to find anything else that could help us? Were you able to find out the name of our victim yet?"

David quickly answered for him, "According to his fingerprints, his name is Judd Eppes and our database shows that he's got a minor criminal record for blackmail."

Sara replied, "Well that sounds promising. We may have a motive if whoever did this to Greg had a reason to want Judd here dead, but how did whoever behind all this get Greg to go after and shoot this guy?"

"Hopefully finding out what drugs Greg was given will help you to answer that," Dr. Robbins responded. "As for whatever else I can tell you, I found that the bullet found in his chest wound caused at least three of his ribs to break, or more like shatter, from the force of the bullet breaking through to his heart. This doesn't happen often unless…"

"Unless the bullet was fired from up to a few feet away," Sara answered.

Julie spoke again saying, "Which means the witness' stories just proved to be true; that Greg did indeed shoot him from close up. We need to bring all of them in for a line up, just to see if they can really identify Greg as the shooter, or not."


	5. Chapter 5

Devil's Breath

Chapter Five

Later that night, several of the witnesses to the shooting had shown up at the crime lab in order to look through the line-up that Brass and the CSI's had set up, hoping that they wouldn't be able to identify Greg as their shooter. Unfortunately, all but two pointed him out. The two that couldn't was because one of them had been too drunk the night the night before and the other was a prostitute with a bad memory for faces.

After the line-up, Greg was put back into the interrogation room, now wearing the orange jumpsuit like every other criminal the CSI's put away. He sat alone in silence as he stared down between his shaking hands and the table. Despite feeling the need to walk in and try to talk to him as she stood watching him through the window into the room, Morgan resisted as she knew that Greg wanted to be left alone. She could understand how he felt, as she realized that if it was her life now on the line, then she wouldn't want to talk anyone then either. He was feeling guilty and ashamed, even though everyone else believed he was innocent.

"I'm afraid that Brass is on his way to bring Greg to holding," D.B. said quietly as he walked up behind her and looked at his friend as well. "He's done all he can to buy time, but he's being pressured to bring him in. Our victim's family has arrived and they're angry."

"They're going to see Greg and believe he's the man that killed Eppes," Morgan replied without turning away to look at the man now standing beside her. "The whole public is going to see him as a killer, but what's worse, is that Greg sees himself as a killer. He's trying to keep on a brave face and not let his emotions show, but I can see that he's scared. His hands are shaking and I even saw a few tears fall."

D.B. nodded and then answered, "Yes, but what's important is that we won't see him as a killer and when we free him from these charges, we will give him the space and time he needs to try to get past all this. He will be all right, I'm sure of it."

Morgan finally looked at Russell and asked, "I know he's innocent, but how do you feel so confident that everything's going to work out right? Innocent men go to prison more than I'd like to believe."

"Because I have confidence in our team," he responded. "We're not perfect, but we're real close."

"Well then we're going to have to get better," Nick spoke as he walked up to them, followed by Captain Brass. "Greg's tests results came back just now. No drugs were found in his system, nor was any alcohol."

Morgan cried, "That's not possible! How do you explain Greg shooting a man? How do you explain his memory loss?"

D.B. replied, "Without drugs? I don't know, but there has to be an explanation. It's possible that he was given a drug that had already left his system before we brought him in for testing. After all, we found him in his apartment several hours after the murder. Morgan can you go and talk with Hodges and see that if between the two of you can find a match on a possible drug that can explain this?"

"Yeah, I can," Morgan answered as she turned back toward the window to look at Greg once more, then turned, and walked away.

"It's time for me to bring Greg in," Jim said grimly before walking into the room. "I'll do what I can to see that he's protected, but I can't guarantee anything."

All of a sudden, Judd Eppe's wife came around the corner and began to shout, "Are you all looking at the man that killed my husband? Did he actually admit what he did, or did he lie just to try to save his neck?"

Both Russell and Nick quickly walked up to the woman and tried to calm her as D.B. responded, "Just try to take it easy, ma'am. I know and can understand that you're upset. You have every right to be, but there's things going on here that you don't understand. If you'll follow me to another room, I can explain to you what we know and try to get a read as to why your husband might have been killed."

"It doesn't matter why Judd was killed to me," she replied coldly. "He was murdered by some man and now my children are without a father. I want that man to pay."

"Let's just go have a talk," D.B. continued as he pushed her toward the next room so the two of them could talk in private. "We have an investigation to conduct. We need to know the truth of what happened and in order to get there, we must find out more about your husband; to establish a motive."

Judd's wife finally calmed down and answered, "Fine. Let's talk."

Russell turned to look back at Nick as he walked behind the woman, then Nick spoke up saying, "Don't worry. We're all still working on a few other things right now."

"First of all, Mrs. Eppes, I want to apologize for your loss," D.B. said sincerely after offering her a chair at the table inside another one of the lab's interrogation rooms and then sitting down. "You obviously loved your husband very much, as did your children."

"Yes, we did," she responded. "He didn't deserve to be murdered by that man in there."

Russell replied, "Actually, we have reason to believe that there was someone else involved with his death. Do you know of anyone that would want your husband dead? Anyone, who would have reason to make sure he died?"

She answered, "I don't know. I mean, ever since a few weeks ago, my husband became very nervous. He never told me why, but he tried to get me to leave town so that me and our kids would be safe. He started going out to drink even more than he ever used to. I just wish that he didn't last night. If he didn't, he might still be alive."

"Was he having trouble at work by any chance?" Russell asked again.

"He was stressed out at his job, just like anybody," the woman responded. "I hated his boss, but he certainly isn't a murderer."

D.B. spoke again saying, "Well, I need to inform you that the man we have in custody appears to be the man that shot your husband, but we have reason to believe that he was drugged in order for someone else to get him to fire the gun used to kill him. Someone else wanted your husband dead. If you can think of anyone that had a reason to have him killed, we would really appreciate it if you let us know."

The coldness in her face softened as she said, "I am sorry for my earlier outburst. I just want whoever's responsible for my husband's death to pay. If I find out anything, I will let you know. Just please promise me you will catch the SOB."

"You have my word," Russell stated firmly.


	6. Chapter 6

Devil's Breath

Chapter Six

Morgan walked into Hodges' lab and as she did, he looked up from examining Greg's clothes and asked sympathetically, "How are you doing?"

Morgan stared down at the blood covered shirt Greg was wearing earlier when he had been brought to the hospital until his clothes were taken to be examined by the lab techs as she answered coldly, "How do you think I'm doing? I… David, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

"Don't worry about it," he replied before she could finish. "I understand your frustration. It was a stupid question and you're worried about Greg. If it means anything, I am too. We don't usually see eye to eye on much, but I think out of all the other CSI's, besides you, he's the one that I can consider a friend somewhat. At least he doesn't consider me as much of a joke like the others."

"Have you been able to find anything?" she asked pleadingly. "I mean, anything that can help Greg?"

Hodges responded, "I haven't found much; mostly our victim's blood. However, I did find a gas receipt, as well as one for a cup of coffee inside Greg's pants pocket. The time stamp says these were purchased just before five yesterday afternoon."

Morgan spoke again saying, "Greg called me this morning after he left the diner with Nick to tell me about having to meet with his friend yesterday instead of coming with me to the new jazz club. He said that his friend had asked to meet with him around five."

"So you're saying Greg did leave to meet up with his friend, whom I learned from Russell said that Greg never made it there to his hotel room to meet him," Hodges continued. "If whoever attacked Greg did so at the diner where he had bought the coffee, the surveillance cameras across at the gas station surely would have picked up an incident."

"I think Nick is working on getting the footage to see if any of that's true," she stated. "I'm here because I need to know if you know of any kind of drug that can get Greg to do something that he could never do, cause complete memory loss for the last twenty-four hours, then disappear from his system completely within maybe twelve hours?"

Hodges asked, "There were no drugs found when the doctors ran all their tests?"

Morgan shook her head as she answered, "Nope; nothing. Please tell me that you know of something. The evidence against him is piling up, he's now been arrested, and so far, we've got nothing to help him. He's already given up hope. I can't."

"Well unfortunately, nothing comes to mind," Hodges replied. "In fact, it sounds impossible, but that doesn't mean that it is. I can search the drug databases though. It will take a while, so…"

"That's why I'm here," Morgan responded. "I really appreciate this, David. I mean, I know it's your job and all, but I still am grateful."

It was then that Conrad Ecklie walked into the room as he said, "Before you get started, Morgan, can I speak to you for a minute?"

She smiled and then answered, "Yeah, sure."

After walking back out behind him and taking a few more steps away from the lab for privacy, Morgan suddenly embraced him as she spoke up saying, "I'm so glad you're back, Dad. Everything's a mess right now."

"I know," Conrad replied as he hugged her back. "I came back from San Diego as soon as I received a call from Russell telling me that one of our own was in trouble. How's Greg doing?"

"Not good," she responded. "He's not good. I know what it looks like and I know why Captain Brass had no choice in arresting him, but Greg didn't do this, Dad. Someone had to have assaulted him and drugged him with something in order to get him to go out and shoot a man in front of a number of eyewitnesses. Someone, who's very smart and knows how to cover his tracks."

Ecklie nodded as he answered, "I believe you. Greg's a good man. I wanted to let you know that I've called in a few favors in hope to ensure that Greg is looked after as long as he's stuck inside. He'll have his own cell for starters. We've all helped to put several of the scum that's in that prison away. Hopefully, no one will recognize him as one of us while we work to set him free."

Morgan smiled and replied, "Thank you! I need to… I need…"

"Everything's going to be all right, sweetheart," Conrad said as he pulled her once again into his arms when she began to break as tears began to fall from her eyes. "We're going to find who did his to Greg and make him pay."

"It's getting harder and harder for me to believe that," she responded.

Ecklie spoke up again as he asked, "You really care about him, don't you? I mean, more than as just a friend?"

Morgan finally let go as she looked up at her father and then answered, "Yeah, I think I might."

"Then when this is all over, I suggest you tell him," he replied. "I didn't tell your mother how much I cared for her enough when I should have, nor did I tell you for the longest time. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I almost lost you. I don't want you to make that same mistake. I just want you to be happy."

"Thank you, Dad," Morgan responded sincerely. "I need to get back to work. We're going to find something that will help."

As she started to walk back toward the lab, her father said, "That's my girl. Try not to worry so much. I'll do all I can from my end."

As she came back into the lab, Hodges spoke up saying, "It's good that your father is back. You ready to get to work?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," she answered. "Let's find us some answers."

Meanwhile…

"You shouldn't have asked me to do this," a man spoke angrily into his cell phone. "The man we had kill Eppes is a CSI. The others will do whatever it takes to prove he's innocent."

The voice on the other end of the line replied, "_As long as you covered your tracks and did exactly as you were supposed to do, you shouldn't have any problems. The Las Vegas police and CSI's won't be able to find out the truth._"

The man responded, "I understand why Eppes had to die and I have no problem with having him killed, but what I want to know is, why did we have to use Greg Sanders? It was too risky. We could have used anyone."

"_We used him because soon they will discover that Greg Sanders has a motive to have wanted Judd Eppes dead, which will only help to make him look guiltier,_" the voice stated again. "_He is the perfect patsy._"


	7. Chapter 7

Devil's Breath

Chapter Seven

The next morning, D.B. and Nick walked into the prison, then took a seat in the holding room, and waited for the prison guards to bring Greg in to meet with them. As he walked in and sat down, Greg didn't speak and kept his eyes down. His friends could see his hands shaking, even more so than the night before.

Nick was the first to speak up as he said, "We're going to get you out of here, Greg. I promise."

Greg finally looked up between them and responded, "You can't promise that. At least you shouldn't. You all don't believe I'm a killer and believe me, I'm grateful for that, but none of you have stopped to even consider the possibility that I really did do this. Not only does the evidence and all your witnesses prove that I'm guilty, but everything in my gut tells me that I did too."

"You've forgotten one thing," D.B. answered. "You can't remember anything from that night."

"Yeah, all that could mean is that what I did was so horrific that I blocked it out," Greg replied.

Nick continued, "Or that you were drugged with something that has caused your memory loss. Just because no drugs were found in your system after the doctors ran their blood tests, doesn't mean that it didn't happen. You're not a killer, Greg. Why are you so quick to think otherwise?"

Greg looked away as he responded, "Because I've killed someone before!"

"Yes, but in self defense," Nick said firmly. "I know you still blame yourself a little for Demetrius James, but that kid gave you no choice. If you didn't do what you did, he could have killed you too and if you didn't interfere at all that night, then Stanley Tanner would be dead. You know that. You would never kill out of revenge."

"You're right, I wouldn't," Greg asked. "Was there a reason why you've come here?"

D.B. answered, "Yeah, we've got an id on our victim. His name is Judd Eppes."

Greg suddenly looked over at Russell oddly and asked, "Judd Eppes; are you sure?"

"Yeah, we're positive," Nick replied. "Do you know him?"

"I did," Greg responded. "I mean, if he's the same Judd Eppes that went to Shadow Ridge High School I did."

Russell saw the worried look on Greg's face, then turned lover at Nick, and back at Greg as he asked again, "I'm guessing from your look just now that the reason you knew him wasn't because you and he were best friends in high school?"

Greg looked between his friends and then answered, "No, Judd was a bully, who picked on me and a number of other students relentlessly. I was a geek in school, as I'm sure you both can imagine. I once ended up in the hospital with a few broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion after he pulled a practical joke on me that went bad. He was expelled from school after that because my parents, my mom mainly, put up this huge fuss over it. If anything, Judd would want revenge on me for getting him kicked out. Instead, I receive an email three days ago from him, telling me that he's sorry for all he ever did to me, telling me that he had had a change of heart and was trying to make amends. He asked me to meet up with him at a bar, just down the street from where you found his body and on that night."

"Okay, that can't be a coincidence," Nick replied. "I take it that you didn't respond?"

"No, I… I didn't know how to," Greg responded. "I needed some time to think before I actually agreed to meet the man, who tortured me in high school. What if I did go and meet him that night? I think I just hit another nail into my coffin."

Nick shook his head, then said, "No, if you had thought that you might possibly meet with Judd, even in the slightest bit, you wouldn't have made plans with Morgan, or change them to meet up with another friend of yours."

Just then, Russell spoke up again as he asked, "Did the friend you agree to meet up with, Tom Lovell, did he attend the same school with you at the time all this happened?"

"No, but he was my best friend at the time," Greg answered. "I told him everything that happened. If you're thinking he has something to do with all this, I just can't believe he would do anything to try to hurt me and he definitely isn't a killer either. We lost touch after I graduated and went on to college. Maybe he was a little jealous because I got accepted and he didn't, but… nothing happened between us that would give him cause to do all this."

"You never know how a person might react to a situation like this," Nick replied. "Besides, people change. I think I would like to go have a talk with him, to see what he says about all this."

Russell nodded, then responded, "I'm going with you. I believe more than before that he's involved in this somehow. There are too many coincidences here. Before we leave, how are you doing in here, Greg? Are things all right?"

Greg looked at his boss as he answered, "I'm as good as I can be, I suppose. It's a little hard to stay positive when you're in prison for murder."

"I can imagine," Nick replied. "Keep your head up, man. We'll be in touch."

"Thank you," Greg spoke sadly. "For believing in me. It means a lot."

As they left the holding cell when the prison guard came in and then escorted Greg back toward his cell, D.B. spoke again and said, "I know Greg may not believe his friend could be capable of doing all this, but I can, even more now than ever."

Nick nodded, then stated, "I agree. I haven't met this guy yet and I already really don't like him."


	8. Chapter 8

Devil's Breath

Chapter Eight

As Russell and Nick were driving to the hotel again where Lovell was staying, Russell's phone rang and when he answered, he discovered it was Julie as she spoke first saying, "_Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I found no connections between our victim and Greg's friend, Tom Lovell; not yet anyway, though I'll keep looking. Eppes worked at a large law firm as a defense attorney, if you can believe it. His boss' name is Stephen Howard, from Howard, Howard, and Associates._"

As Russell had put his phone on speaker so that Nick could hear as well, Nick scoffed, "You've got to be kidding me! How does a guy, who was and bully and expelled from high school, become a big time attorney for a large firm? I've heard of them. The Howards are brothers and they're filthy rich."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they're rich because they're dirty," Russell replied. "Perhaps by hiring people like Judd Eppes to help do their dirty work for them."

"_Yeah, sounds good to me, but until some of us have a talk with them, it's just speculation,_" Julie responded. "_Would you care to do the honors?_"

Russell answered, "Nick and I were actually on our way to have another talk with Lovell. You and Sara go and have a talk with Howard and his brother instead. Find out what they have to say about hiring a man like Judd Eppes. Find out what kind of employee he was."

Just before Julie hung up, she replied, "_You've got it. Good luck with Lovell. I doubt he'll be much more cooperative._"

"I'm sure she's right," Russell responded as he hung up his phone after she did. "He wasn't exactly forthcoming the first time we spoke."

"He's going to have to try if he wants to take himself off our suspect list," Nick answered.

Russell nodded and then replied, "By the way, were you able to discover anything that could help Greg from the surveillance footage from that night near the gas station?"

Nick shook his head and responded with frustration, "Unfortunately, no. The footage shows Greg walking into the diner across the street to get coffee and back out, then stop to fill up his car. He leaves after he's finished. There were other cars that pulled in behind him, but nothing appeared out of the normal. Whoever's behind this has planned all this perfectly and it's pissing me off."

"There's no such thing as a perfect crime," D.B. answered confidently. "Something will turn up."

"If Greg really did kill a man, he would know how to easily cover his tracks, even more so than the rest of us, since he was a brilliant lab tech before becoming a CSI," Nick said. "Even inexperienced people don't leave behind this much evidence."

Russell thought for a moment and then spoke up again saying, "Maybe we're looking at this all from the wrong angle. We've been trying to work this from the main crime. Greg may have pulled the trigger and committed the crime we're investigating, but I think we need to find out where this all began; start at point A, instead of at point B. Greg is obviously a hit man and all hit man cases begin with a meeting where the hits are planned. Our mastermind would have to meet up with the hit man somewhere…"

Nick interrupted, "Somewhere where Greg was assaulted so that they could drug him, or give him whatever it was to get him to do all this. Russell, you're brilliant. We need to find this place. I don't know how I didn't think of this sooner myself, even after trying to track down his whereabouts before the shooting."

"Well, we'll have to wait on that," D.B. replied as they pulled into the hotel's parking lot. "We're here. Lovell's room is 337. Try not to jump down the man's throat, all right?"

"I may already hate the man, but I know how to be professional," Nick responded.

Once they made it up to the door of the room, Russell knocked twice until Tom opened it and saw one of the same investigators as before, as well as another one he didn't recognize. He wasn't thrilled to see them, but he didn't really let on as he invited them inside and offered them a drink.

Russell declined his offer as he spoke up and said, "Thank you, but no. We're both still on duty."

Lovell stated, "Of course. How is Greg doing?"

"He's not doing well," Nick answered. "He's been arrested for murder. A lot of evidence has come up against him. We know he's innocent, but whoever is really guilty has set Greg up good. We're here because we need to know what it was that you were in town to talk to him about. We need to know a little bit more about you in hope to rule you out for sure as a suspect. We understand you and he were good friends a long time ago back when you were both in high school. If there is anything you can tell us that can help us to prove Greg didn't do this…"

"Greg and I were good friends, but we didn't go to the same school," Tom replied. "I went to a private school instead. To be honest, I don't even remember where we met, but we did everything together. That is, until we graduated. Greg got accepted to Stanford and we drifted apart."

Russell asked, "Greg told us that you had applied to Stanford as well, but wasn't accepted. Did that bother you at all?"

Tom responded, "I thought you didn't consider me one of your suspects? It sounds to me like you're accusing me of framing him."

"We are just trying to be thorough," Russell answered. "We aren't accusing you or anyone yet. Was jealousy a factor in the two of you drifting apart?"

"I suppose it could have been, but if it was, it was a very small factor," Lovell replied. "We just went separate ways and our lives became too busy for us to keep in touch. I got a job working for a sports and entertainment manager, who owns his own company. I'm an agent there. I help to bring clients into the fold so to speak."

Nick nodded and responded, "That's sounds interesting. I can imagine you meet all sorts of people. Have you ever met a man by the name of Stephen Howard? He's a lawyer who owns his own firm here in the city."

Tom's eyes grew colder as he answered, "I can't say that I have. I hate lawyers and so far have been lucky enough not to have had to deal with any."

"What can you tell me about Judd Eppes?" Russell asked again. "He's the man that Greg has been accused of killing. Greg told us that as his best friend, he had told you everything back then, especially about the things this bully did to him."

"That's right, he did," Lovell replied. "I met Judd a few times when I picked Greg up from school or maybe at this pizza joint a lot of the students used to hang out at back then. Judd picked on Greg a lot because Greg was one of the biggest geeks in his school. Not that he was your typical geek, but the super smart, Goth rock and glam pop rock loving, chess club geek with the funkiest hairstyles. Greg was a weird kid, but he had a good heart. He didn't care about what other people thought of him, except for when he was accused of something serious; something that was wrong and wasn't his fault. Greg drove most of the major clicks crazy because he wasn't intimidated by them, but no one ever tried to make his life miserable as much as Judd did. Did he tell you about the time Judd pulled a prank on him that caused Greg to break several ribs, his arm, and get a concussion?"

Nick responded, "Yeah, he did. It's terrible. What exactly did Judd do to cause that?"

Tom answered, "When he was standing by with his friends, the scumbag tossed a cherry bomb into Greg's locker just as Greg opened it up one morning. Judd just expected it to scare him a little and to destroy whatever Greg had in his locker at the time, but he never expected the blast to scare Greg so much that it would cause him to stumble backward and then fall down a flight of marble stairs that were nearby. Greg's locker was on the corner. Greg was unconscious when several students and a few teachers got to him and was lucky that those injuries were all he received from that."

"It's no wonder he was expelled," Nick replied angrily. "Did any of Greg's friends ever try to retaliate against him or the others?"

"Greg didn't have any friends at the time other than me," Tom responded. "I told you, he was a weird kid then. As for the reason why I'm here, I came to ask him for some help in helping me to convince a potential client to join my company; Jack Wilder. Greg sent me an email a few years ago once telling me that he had met him and his father and had become friends with them because he knew that I was a fan of his father's, who was with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jack Wilder is a member of the Reno Aces, a minor league baseball team, who is now on his way to the big leagues."

Russell nodded and then said, "So, your reason for wanting to meet with Greg the other night was for a professional reason. You didn't have plans to try to renew your friendship?"

Tom answered, "Our friendship may be strained, but I still consider us friends and yes, our meeting was for professional reasons. You may think it's a little selfish of me to come back after all these years for that, but think what you will."

"Understood," Russell replied. "Thank you again for your time."

"No problem," Lovell responded. "If you have anything else, you can call me. I'll be in town for two more days in hope to close the deal even without Greg's help, but after that, I have to leave. I have to get back."

Nick spoke again saying, "Well, hopefully by then we'll have figured out who really killed Judd Eppes and will have proven Greg innocent."

Tom answered, "I hope so too. Goodbye and good luck with everything."

"Well, all we've managed to do was discover that Greg's friend is a selfish company man, who doesn't appear to be all that concern about Greg's welfare despite what he says," Nick stated after they left the hotel room and got back into their car. "I still think he's hiding something."

"Yes, but unless new evidence comes up that doesn't point to Greg, there's nothing more we can talk with him about," Russell replied. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't like him anymore than you do."

Nick sighed and then responded, "I sure hope you're right about there being no such thing as the perfect murder. Grissom used to say the same thing. Until today, I would have believed it. Now I have my doubts. Where to next?"

Russell answered, "We go back to the lab and find out what Julie and Sara found out at Howard, Howard, and Associates. Maybe they've had better luck than us. I never did trust a lawyer either."


	9. Chapter 9

Devil's Breath

Chapter Nine

Finn and Sara arrived at the office building where the Howard brothers ran their firm, then walked inside and up to the receptionist's desk in hope to get the woman behind it to inform her bosses they were there to speak with them. She quickly made the call, then asked the CSIs to take a seat in the waiting area for them to come down.

"Ladies, please forgive me for making you wait," a man spoke as he walked out and stood before them. "My name is Stephen Howard. My brother, Dorian, should be down momentarily. He is just finishing a phone call from one of his clients. What can I do for you today?"

"Mr. Howard, were both crime scene investigators with the Las Vegas crime lab," Sara answered as she and Finn showed the lawyer their badges. "I'm CSI Sidle and my partner here, is CSI Finlay."

Julie quickly cut in, "You can just call me Finn. We're here because we'd like to ask you a few questions about one of your defense attorneys, Judd Eppes."

It was then that Dorian walked in as he asked, "What is this about our partner? I'm sorry I'm late. I had to take a phone call."

"No problem, we're just getting started," Julie responded. "We were hoping you could tell us a little bit about Judd."

"Is our friend in some trouble?" Stephen asked. "I assure you, Judd is a good man, who makes friends with everyone he meets."

Sara's eyes grew cold as she turned toward Dorian and replied, "That may have been who he was as of late, but from what I've learned about him so far, he wasn't always the nicest of guys. When was the last time you saw him?"

Stephen answered, "We saw him three days ago. He had taken two days off and was supposed to be in again this morning, but he never showed. We figured he was just ill and would give us a call later to let us know when he planned to be back in. He's an excellent employee. What's going on? Do you think he's done something wrong?"

"I'm afraid Judd Eppes is dead," Finn responded. "He was killed two nights ago with a bullet to his chest."

"Oh my God," Stephen stated in surprise. "I don't understand. Who would do this?"

Finn replied, "That's why we're here, to investigate. Did Judd have problems with any of his clients or with anyone else that you can think of? Perhaps someone who blamed him for getting off a client of his they believed belonged in prison?"

Dorian smirked and then answered, "Enemies come with the job. I'm sure there are many people that blame him for helping his clients. I assure you, that none of the clients hated him though. Judd was an excellent attorney, who won many cases, and as my brother said, he was a good man."

"He was also a bully, at least back when he was in high school," Sara responded. "He made several students miserable and then was expelled for nearly killing a friend of ours, who attended the same high school, trying to pull a prank on him."

"Perhaps then, you should take a good look at your friend," Dorian continued. "Maybe he was the one that killed Judd out of revenge."

Before Sara could lash out in anger at their suspect's accusation, Julie quickly cut her off as she replied, "We apologize for falling out of our line of questioning. We're not here to insult your employee and friend, or to accuse him of anything, after all, he is the victim in all of this. I promise, we are only trying to get a feel for the kind of man Judd Eppes was before he died, to help try to figure out a motive."

Stephen spoke up again saying, "And please forgive my brother as well. He didn't mean to get out of line. We understand why you're here. When we hired Judd several years ago to work for us, we had knowledge of his expulsion, but after what happened to the man he had hurt back in high school, Judd became a different man, a good man. He got his GED and then worked real hard to get to where he was today. He earned his place here in our firm. There are a number of people that could have wanted to kill him, but no one comes to mind. Now, if you'll excuse us, my brother and I are in the middle of a big case and are very busy right now. If you have any more questions…"

"Actually, we just have one more," Finn quickly interrupted before the men could leave. "We were hoping you could both tell us where you were two nights ago between the hours of two and four o'clock in the morning?"

"We were here at the office, working late into the night on a case," Dorian answered. "There were three or four of our associates here to help us work that can back us up on that."

Finn nodded and then responded, "Thank you very much for your time. We'll be in touch and I assure you, when we find out who killed your friend, we'll let you know."

Stephen nodded and replied, "Thank you."

"I know that Nick and Russell may suspect Greg's friend for killing Judd, but my gut is telling me that Dorian Howard is guilty as hell," Sara said as she and Finn walked out of the building.

"I'll admit that he looks guilty, especially after he tried pointing the blame at Greg, but you know that you can't fly off the handle like that," Finn answered. "Not that I didn't want to do the same. I have a feeling their alibis are going to check out, but that doesn't mean they're not involved in setting this whole mess up. We'll keep looking into Dorian's background and see if he's got any skeletons in his closet."

Meanwhile…

Greg was escorted from his prison cell by two prison guards past the rest of the cells that held real criminals and led into the bathroom where he could brush his teeth and get washed up. For now, the room was empty besides the three of them, but that didn't help Greg feel any better. Everything was fine and when Greg finished, the two guards began to escort him back past the cells until one of the prisoners suddenly grabbed him and pulled him hard up against the bars.

One guard shoved the convict back while the other pulled Greg out of the way and then continued to walk with him toward his cell, but as they walked, the same convict shouted out, "You and your other cop friends put me in here, so soon that pretty face of yours won't be so pretty. I suggest you watch your back in here. You're in the devil's house now, Kid! You're in the devil's house! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

A quick flash rolled through his memory as the guards got Greg safely back into his own cell and closed its door behind him, then Greg quickly turned around, and spoke up softly, "I need to make a call to my boss at the crime lab. I have to talk to them. Something's come up, something that may be able to help them in their case."

"What are you talking about?" one of the guards asked.

"Please, just make a call to Captain Jim Brass with the Las Vegas police department and tell him that I need to speak with Russell," Greg responded.

The other guard just walked away, as his partner looked at Greg and replied, "I need to speak with the warden. I'll be back soon."

From a safe distance, where no one could see or overhear him, the guard who had stepped away moments before watched his partner leave, then stared down at Greg in his cell as he pulled out his cell phone and made a call. No one picked up, but within a few seconds of him hanging up, the same number he had dialed called back.

The guard spoke first as he spoke into the phone with panic in his voice, "We've got a problem. I think the CSI just remembered something that could be damaging for us. I don't know how, but he's asked us to get in touch with his friends at the crime lab."

"_Then, I suggest you take care of it,_" the voice on the other end of the line said forcefully. "_I don't care what you do or how you do it, but he can't be allowed to talk. Is that understood?_"

"Yeah, I understand," the guard stated coldly.


	10. Chapter 10

Devil's Breath

Chapter Ten

Sara and Finn arrived back at the crime lab not long after Nick and Russell and when they walked into Russell's office, the two of them were there explaining to Ecklie and Morgan what little more they had learned from Greg's friend. Nick had just finished telling them the reason for Tom being here in the city.

Then, Morgan spoke up saying, "So, Mr. Lovell claims he was here hoping to exploit his old friendship with Greg to help him gain a new client."

Russell replied, "Not in those exact words, but that was pretty much what Nick and I understood."

"Unfortunately, none of what you said is enough for me to help get you a warrant to search Lovell's hotel room for anything that might link him to our victim's murder," Ecklie said. "We need evidence showing that maybe they did actually meet up or a possible motive to help you move forward."

"We know what we need," Nick answered in frustration.

Julie spoke up as she responded, "Well, unfortunately we haven't done much better, but I think we've got ourselves another pretty good suspect, except for the fact that both he and his brother have a solid alibi. Dorian Howard is a hot tempered SOB, who was real quick to accuse Greg the second we had mentioned that their employee had nearly killed him when he was in high school."

Russell replied, "Well, that doesn't mean that he couldn't have hired someone to do the dirty work for him."

"Yeah, someone meaning Tom Lovell," Nick said disdainfully.

"We need to look even deeper into their backgrounds," Russell stated as Jim Brass walked in the office looking distressed. "What's going on, Jim?"

The captain swallowed and then calmly answered, "I just received a call from the prison. Greg's been rushed to the penitentiary's infirmary. The warden wasn't very forthcoming about the detail."

Morgan gasped in fear as her hand flew up to her mouth and Nick spoke up saying, "Inform them we're on our way down there now."

Captain Brass, Russell, Nick, and Morgan had made it to the prison as quickly as they could and found the warden and two guards waiting outside for their arrival. The captain and CSIs walked swiftly through the building's walls in order to get to their friend's side as soon as possible, while the warden tried to explain as much as he could, or really tried to make them understand that he wasn't to blame for the incident. The CSIs so much as ignored him, not caring about anything aside from Greg's wellbeing.

"What happened?" Russell asked curtly as they finally walked into the room to find a doctor and three nurses working on him.

"An inmate found him beaten badly and cuffed to post inside our laundry room," the warden responded. "He was also stabbed in his abdomen, with an unknown weapon, most likely a shiv, which unfortunately has been found on occasion within our inmates' possessions, more than we'd like. It appears your friend put up one hell of a fight against whoever attacked him and left him to die on the floor."

Nick glared at the warden and then replied, "Which means that there's a good chance we'll find evidence that will help us to identify the bastard."

Morgan cried out angrily, "Greg was supposed to be well protected. How could you let this happen?"

"I'm afraid I can't explain how this happened," the warden answered nervously. "He was supposed to be protected, but I assure you, we will look into this mishap."

"We're going to need to speak with the inmate who found him," Russell spoke up quickly before either Nick or Morgan could say something more in anger, as he could see their anger flaring. "We're also going to need to see the crime scene. We're taking over here until we find the man we're looking for. Morgan, stay here in the infirmary with Greg. Let us know how he's doing as soon as you find out. Nick, you're with us."

Morgan and Nick both nodded as the warden responded, "You can't just take over like you run this place!"

Brass walked up to the man with his badge in his hand and replied, "Actually, my badge here says that I can and we will."

"Fine, but I plan on staying with you during your investigation," the warden answered. "I won't have you badgering my men."

"If they're not guilty, then they've got nothing to worry about," Nick said coldly.

The CSIs began their investigation in the laundry room, ignoring the glares and constant watch by the guards now keeping their eyes on them for the warden. Bloody hand prints and smears were spread across the area where they could see the fight between Greg and his attacker had broken out. They also found the bloody handcuffs still attached to the post just as the warden had said that the inmate had found cuffed on their friend's wrist.

A short time later, a guard walked in the room escorting an inmate, the man who had found Greg, wearing his own set of cuffs on order by the warden to keep him from doing anything stupid. He looked nervous when he saw the investigators working and even more so when Russell stood up and walked over to him.

Russell spoke up saying, "We understand you found the inmate and quickly called for the doctor and nurses. We owe you. Thank you for helping him."

The man responded, "No one deserves to have this kind of brutality brought upon them. Besides, he didn't strike me as your typical criminal. He was nice."

"That's because he isn't a criminal," Nick replied. "He's one of us."

"What can you tell us about how you found him?" Russell continued. "Did you see the attack or the man who attacked him?"

The inmate shrugged and then answered, "I didn't see anything and I don't know who did this. I only found him, but it couldn't have been too long after the assault. Your friend was still awake, barely. And he managed to say something; something that I didn't understand, but it must have been important enough for him to try to tell me before he lost consciousness."

When the man didn't tell them right away, Russell asked, "What did he try to say?"

"He made out the words, devil's breath," he answered. "That's all, just devil's breath."


	11. Chapter 11

Devil's Breath

Chapter Eleven

Inside the penitentiary's infirmary, Morgan paced back and forth in anger and fear for Greg's life, while she kept her eyes on the men and woman working hard to try to save him, while Captain Brass stood and watched from outside the infirmary's doors. Greg was hooked up to a ventilator to help keep him alive, but Morgan could see the blood, Greg's blood, spilling out from his multiple wounds as the doctor and nurses fought to keep it in by stitching them up, except for the major stab wound, as they operated to repair, from what she could tell was the extensive damage the weapon had caused.

Morgan knew Greg's condition was severe and her fear was confirmed the moment the alarms from the multiple machines hooked up to him began to blare, indicating that he had begun to flat line. The doctor called out for a defibrillator to be brought in and as soon as they were ready, they began to use the paddles to send bolts of electricity through his chest in hope to get his heart beating again. Tears fell from her eyes as Morgan collapsed into the chair behind her and wept silently while she watched in horror as Greg's body shook from the voltage. It was then that she suddenly felt a hand upon her shoulder, as Jim stood above her and waited for whatever was about to happen; either the doctor and nurses would shout that they had gotten his heart beating again, or the sound of the flat line would continue and Greg would be announced dead.

Within a few more seconds, the heart monitor began to beep steadily once again, letting everyone know that they had succeeded in keeping him alive. Morgan stood up and hugged Jim tightly, as her tears continued to fall. The man, who usually remained unemotional, held her in the embrace as he knew that she needed the comfort right then.

After a few minutes, the doctor walked up to them, as Morgan let go of the captain, and spoke up saying, "As you can tell, we managed to get his heart beating again, but the damage is too severe. We don't have the tools we need here to fix the damage, so we're going to have to have him transferred to the nearest hospital so that he can get the treatment he needs. If we don't, he'll die."

Jim nodded and said, "That's good. I don't care if your warden objects. I'm authorizing you to do whatever you have to do. I'll go inform the others on what's going on."

"Is he stabilized?" Morgan asked as the captain walked out of the room. "I mean, enough to at least keep him alive long enough until he reaches the hospital?"

"We believe so," the doctor answered. "I've got him patched up well enough to get him there until doctors better trained to deal with this kind of trauma can help him. I will tell you one thing though, your friend is nothing if not resilient. If he survives, it's because he has something to live for."

Morgan nodded and then replied, "He has to prove he's not a killer, not only to us, but to himself as well. He didn't do the things he being charged with, but there's someone who wants him and everyone else to believe he is. What can you tell me about the stab wound? Do you have any idea what kind of weapon was used?"

The doctor shrugged as he responded, "The warden stated that he thought it might have been a shiv like we have found on a number of the prisoners here in the past, but after examining the wound closely, I say there's no way it can be. The weapon you're looking for is larger like that of a knife, but shaped differently and much duller, causing much more damage than a knife could. It had to have hurt him like hell when his attacker plunged it in. I'm sorry."

Meanwhile…

"Devil's breath?" Nick asked in confusion. "What could Greg possibly have meant by that?"

"I'm not really sure," Russell answered. "But whatever it means, it was obviously important enough for him to try to tell someone before he couldn't."

Just then, the guard that had walked off to speak with the warden about allowing Greg to make the phone call to them came in and replied, "It may have been what he needed to tell you guys when he begged me to let him make a call to you."

Nick looked up from his examination of the cuffs and asked, "Greg asked you to make a call to us?"

"Yeah, about a half hour before all this happened," the guard responded. "I told him I needed to speak with the warden for approval. I mean, I knew that your friend had some kind of special privileges that warranted him having protection somehow, but I didn't think a phone call anytime he needed was included in that. He said that something had just come up, something that could help you on your case. He had zoned out moments before that, as if he had just had some kind of flashback."

"Was there someone else with you, perhaps another guard that was assigned with you, that may have heard Greg ask you to make that phone call for him?" Finn asked.

The guard answered, "A few minutes before, as we were escorting your friend back to his cell from the wash room, an inmate grabbed him and forced him up against the bars of his cell. The other guard and I pulled your friend back and continued walking with him as the inmate shouted something along the lines of, 'you and your cop friends put me here and now you're going to pay.' He said something about him 'being in the devil's house now' and then just started laughing. The other guard stood back and slammed his staff against the bars, while I escorted your friend back alone, and he stayed behind to quiet him down. Maybe another inmate heard your friend mention needing to speak with you, but I don't see what that has to do with your friend being attacked and I don't have a clue as to how he ended up in here. He was locked in his cell when I walked away to speak with the warden, I swear."

Russell replied, "I believe you, but just to be sure we are thorough, I'm going to need to get a sample of your fingerprints…"

"As well as an imprint of your shoes," Finn suddenly interrupted as she stood up from the floor where she and Sara were using their tools to look at the blood smears around them. "Sara and I just found two different shoe patterns smeared in the blood pools and exiting the room. One of them we can tell belongs to an inmate seeing as they're all given the same shoes to wear, but the other print has a different sole."

"We're going to need to examine all of the guards' shoes, as well as the warden's to find out who Greg's second attacker is," Sara responded.

Nick seethed as he spoke up again saying, "I'm guessing one of them made the initial attack first, not expecting Greg to put up much of a fight, but when he did, the second guy broke in to help his partner, knowing that they needed to silence Greg for good. The SOB that's behind all this is willing to go to any length to make sure Greg is the only one that goes down for killing Judd Eppes, or that at least he or she isn't identified, even if we can find out who assaulted Greg in here."

Russell nodded and said, "As soon as the doctor and nurses are able to stabilize Greg, we'll need to examine him too, in order to see if he was able to get a piece of his attackers. When we do find out who did this, they're going to need our protection as well; to keep our SOB from taking them out too."

"You're going to have to wait a while longer to do that," Jim spoke as he walked into the room.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked as he saw the grim look on their friend's face. "Is Greg all right?"

Jim sighed and then answered, "Greg flat lined a few minutes ago. They were able to bring him back, but they are having him transferred to the nearest hospital because they don't have the right tools and equipment to help him. Morgan is staying with him. I'll make sure he gets to where he needs to be, despite any objections that arise."

Russell nodded and Jim walked away again, then D.B. turned to his friends and stated, "The hospital will be able to take better care of him and then it will be our job to protect him, the way it always should have been. No one, besides us, or his doctors, will be able to go into his room. Morgan will stay with him for now, while we work to finish this scene and hopefully be able to apprehend his attackers here."

"Maybe then, we'll be able to finally get some answers," Nick replied. "At least one of them must know whoever started all of this."

"I really hope you're right," Sara responded. "But as you just said, we know the lengths this SOB is willing to go. There's a good chance that our attackers may not know who hired them."

D.B. stated, "Yes, but they don't have all the power. What our perpetrators have failed to realize is the lengths we'll go to solve this and clear Greg's name too."

Finn agreed, "Let's find their minions then."


	12. Chapter 12

Devil's Breath

Chapter Twelve

Russell walked through the prison's cell blocks and arrived in the infirmary as the doctor and nurses finished preparing Greg for the paramedics' arrival and transport to the hospital. Morgan was standing beside his bed with her hand on top of his as she fought back the tears that continued to threaten to fall. D.B. also found the warden in the room watching over the preparations, which was what he was hoping, as he needed to speak with the man.

The leader of the team moved to stand by the man's side and stared at his friend as he spoke up saying, "We're going to need access to all of your inmates' cells in order to find out which one of them did this, along with the help with one of your guards. We're also going to need to make imprints of each of the men's shoes."

The warden turned to look at the CSI as he objected, "None of my men would ever help an inmate to kill another inmate. They're all good men."

"Unfortunately, the evidence we've found in your prison's laundry room says otherwise, unless of course, two of the inmates managed to get out of their cells without help, steal a pair of your guards' shoes to make it look like one of them did it, and then put themselves back inside their cells," D.B. replied. "I doubt it. One of your men, maybe more, is working for whoever has framed Greg and because he started to remember something that could help prove that he's innocent, your traitor was asked to take him out before he could talk. I'm guessing that whoever this guard is, made some kind of deal with this prisoner in exchange for him agreeing to be the one to kill Greg, except that his attempt to kill him went south when Greg fought back and your guard had to step in to help. I'm also guessing that they didn't count on a second inmate to walk in on them. As soon as they heard him coming, they had to take off before they could make sure Greg died, which is the only reason why he's here now, fighting for his life."

"I realize what you're saying, but I have no idea who could do this," the warden responded. "I trust them, all of them, or at least I did. Now I'm not so sure what to believe."

Russell looked back between Greg and Morgan as he said, "Which is why we're here. We'll uncover your traitor."

The warden finally agreed as he answered, "Fine. I'll make the arrangements."

"Thank you," Russell replied, then walked over to stand beside Morgan, and looked down upon their friend. "We're going to find those responsible for doing this."

"I know you will," she responded. "We stilled failed him though. This never should have gone this far! It all happened so fast. He never would have been here if we had just done our job better in the first place!"

D.B. answered, "I feel the same way, but we will make this right. Greg managed to survive being badly beaten by an angry mob a few years ago, which only made him stronger. If he can survive that, he'll pull through this just fine."

Morgan tightened her grip around Greg's hand and replied, "I hope so."

"Just stay with him and protect him," D.B. responded. "When the ringleader of this whole mess finds out that his minions failed, I have a feeling he or she will probably try to kill him again. We'll all take care of the rest."

"No one's going to get near him again," she answered.

When he left the infirmary after the paramedics arrived and airlifted their friend to the hospital, Russell passed through a few of the cell blocks when he came upon Nick, Sara, Finn, and Jim searching several of the cells while the guards kept their eyes on the prisoners. Most of the inmates didn't put up much of a fuss, as they knew that a cell check was something that could occur at any time without reason. Cigarettes were usually the only things that were found except for the occasional shiv as the warden had said. The CSIs found at least three shivs among them, but as the doctor had explained to them, as he had to Morgan, none of them were the weapon they were looking for.

However, they arrived at the cell of the prisoner who had threatened Greg before he was attacked. The guard who told them about the threat pulled the criminal from his cell as Nick and Sara stepped inside and began their search. It wasn't long before Nick lifted the mattress and discovered a slit. After rifling through the springs and cotton inside, it wasn't long before he pulled out what they knew to be the weapon they were searching for; a dull and bloody piece of pipe that had broken off from somewhere throughout the prison.

The prisoner assigned to that cell grinned, when suddenly Nick stepped forward and punched him in his face hard enough to knock him to the ground until Russell and Brass stepped in to restrain Nick from punching him again, as Finn spoke up saying, "Whoa! I guess we found at least one of our scumbags and he's not afraid to admit it."

Jim held tightly to Nick, as did Russell, as he spoke to the guards and said, "I suggest you guys go and escort this guy to one of your holding rooms before we release our hold on our friend here, or before that smirk on his face makes me want to get a punch in as well."

"That was a great punch, Nicky," Sara stated after the guards escorted him away.

"It's the least that he deserves," he replied angrily. "I'm sorry, Russ, but I saw him with that grin on his face and I…"

D.B. responded, "I don't blame you. Let's go see if our new friend is going to be cooperative."

As they walked after the prisoners and guards, Finn turned to Nick and asked, "So, how'd it feel?"

"Not good enough," Nick answered in frustration. "He deserves a hell of a lot more."


	13. Chapter 13

Devil's Breath

Chapter Thirteen

"So Trevor Dodd, you're here because you murdered five people, all because you were paid to," Captain Brass stated as he and Russell sat across from one of the men that had assaulted Greg and began their interrogation. "And yet, you were only given life in prison in exchange for the names of only two of your accomplices. That doesn't exactly seem fair for the families of those that you killed, but what a deal for you."

"I know," Dodd replied smugly. "They really were hoping I'd get the death penalty, but you know how our justice system works today. Deals are made all the time, not that I really care about what happens to me. I really care more about screwing others. You should know, Captain Brass. You helped make my deal; you and some of the other CSIs, including CSI Sanders, Greg, I believe his name was."

Russell stared at the man before him as he asked, "Is that the reason why you attacked him, to screw us for putting you in here?"

Trevor answered, "How about you tell me. I'm sure you already know the real reason I did it."

"We do," Russell continued. "We know that you were hired to kill him. We already know why, but we want to know who helped you attack him and who was it that hired you to do it in the first place."

"I'm sure you do," Trevor responded. "I'm sorry, I can't help you. I tried to warn him he was in my house now."

Jim spoke up again saying, "You called yourself the devil, I believe. That's a good name for you. What exactly was your price? You obviously don't care about getting time off your sentence or worry about the sentence changing to death and you clearly didn't do it for money, seeing as you have nothing you can spend money on. So what were you given for doing this job?"

The prisoner replied, "I didn't need anything to do this job. The moment I saw that one of you CSIs had been arrested for whatever he's here for, I knew that I needed to make him pay for putting me here. When my employer asked me to make Sanders dead, I readily agreed; no charge. He was an easy target."

"How does it feel to know that you failed?" Jim asked coldly.

"The kid did surprise me," Trevor answered. "He was stronger than he looked and I had no idea I would be interrupted. He may not be dead yet, but he isn't out of the woods by any means. He looked pretty bad."

Russell nodded and responded, "You're right. You hurt him pretty good, but you didn't do it alone. We have evidence that proves it. So, how about you tell us who helped you. Which guard let you out of your cell and then put you back inside before you could be caught?"

Dodd just laughed and then replied, "You can't make me tell you anything; not about who helped me and certainly not about my employer. If Greg does happen to survive, tell him I said hello and that I'll see him when he comes back."

"He won't be coming back," Russell answered as they stood up and walked toward the door. "He never should have been here in the first place. We'll be in touch."

"Good luck!" the prisoner responded back as they left the room.

Once they were alone, Jim turned to his friend and asked, "So, what do you think? He isn't going to tell us anything, is he?"

D.B. replied, "Nope. I didn't really expect him to. We're going to have to do this another way, as usual. The others are still working on searching for the guard by looking at all of their shoes."

"It sounds simple enough," Brass answered.

"Maybe not," Russell said as his phone rang and noticed it was Finn. "What's going on, Finn?"

She spoke up on the other end of the line saying, "_We've found our second attacker, but he's on the run. I'm guessing that as soon as we caught Dodd, he took off in case he decided to talk._"

Russell wrote down the name of the guard and handed the slip of paper to Jim, who took it with him to go and speak with the warden, hoping to get the man's address so that he and another uniform could go and try to track him down to arrest him. Finn decided to go with the captain and the officer as well after she quickly hung up on Russell, who then proceeded to help Nick and Sara finish up with the crime scene before they finally left the prison for good.

As they left, Nick spoke up, "I'm going to head off to the hospital to relieve Morgan so that she can go home and get some rest."

"We've all been awake just as long," Russell responded. "We should go home and get some rest as well, at least after the doctors let us know of his condition."

"You said it yourself," Sara replied. "We can't leave Greg alone."

Nick agreed, "Sara's right. I'll be all right staying up for as long as I have to. It's what we do whenever one of us gets hurt."

Russell nodded in agreement and then replied, "Don't worry, he won't be alone. I've made a call to someone who's going to be here soon."

At the hospital…

Morgan sat in one of the chairs within the waiting room, waiting anxiously for the doctors to come out with news on Greg. She hated this part, the waiting for news on whether or not someone she cared for was going to pull through or not. It hasn't been that long since she had to do this when her father had been shot. He had managed to pull through just fine, but this time was different. This time, she was afraid for a man she felt she could be in love with. She didn't know for sure because she had never been in love, but she knew she was more than friends with him.

After awhile, Morgan stood up and began to pace again until she was suddenly interrupted by a voice behind her saying, "You must be Morgan Brody, Conrad's daughter."

"Gil Grissom," Morgan stated in surprise as she stared at the man before her.


	14. Chapter 14

Devil's Breath

Chapter Fourteen

"I didn't expect to see you here, to meet you like this," Morgan continued. "Everyone has spoken very highly of you, especially Nick and… Greg."

"I wish the circumstances were different," Gil responded in sincerity. "I suspect he's in bad shape. Tell me what happened."

Morgan sat down in her seat once again, as Grissom took a seat beside her, and she explained everything from the beginning, in more detail than the little he had been told by Russell, then paused a moment, and continued, "His life was unraveling so fast and now this. Greg was always the one we could all count on for a laugh, for comfort and encouragement, but in the last few days, I've never seen him so defeated. What if he dies? He'll die believing he's no better than the monsters we fight to put away."

Grissom solemnly looked down at his hands and then replied, "Deep down, he knows he's not a killer. The compassion he has for people is rare, as well as is the kind certain people like to exploit, but it is what makes him who he is. I'm sure there's nothing more that I can say to make things better, but if there's one thing that I do know, it's that Greg is stronger than he believes himself to be. Something tells me, you know that too."

"Yeah, I do," she answered with more confidence than what she felt right then.

"He's going to pull through this," Gil responded. "It's just going to take time."

She nodded and then looked over at him as she asked, "So, how did you know to come here?"

Before he could answer, Nick, followed by Russell and Sara, walked into the room and replied, "It's because Grissom always did have a sixth sense for when we needed him most. It's good to see you again."

"Hello Nick," their old boss answered as Nick moved forward and hugged him, then shook hands with Russell. "It's actually thanks to D.B. He's been good enough to keep me informed of the important things that go on here."

"I figured it was a good idea to have some kind of rapport with the man that each of you have such a high esteem for if I wanted to actually fit in with this team," Russell responded. "As it turns out, it's a good thing I did. As soon as this all began I got in touch with him and then again on our way to the prison after receiving word that Greg had been assaulted."

Gil nodded and replied, "I happened to be close by. I dropped everything and came as soon as I could."

Nick spoke up again saying, "It's good that you did. We could use your help. Have you ever heard of anything called, devil's breath? It was the only thing Greg managed to say to the inmate who found him before he lost consciousness."

"Actually, I have," Grissom answered sadly. "Devil's breath is what Colombians call a drug known as scopolamine. It's a colorless and poisonous liquid that is found in some plants of the nightshade family and is typically used as a truth serum, to prevent motion sickness, or as a sedative. However, the Colombian criminals have also found another use for it, a much more dangerous use. If you turn it into a powder and blow it into the face of the victim, they fall into a zombielike state, making it so that the assaulter can make their victim do whatever they want them to do. It doesn't last real long, but the victim will have no choice, but to do what they're told and no memory of whatever they did while in this trance."

"That explains how they actually got Greg to kill a man and his memory loss, but if this is the drug used on Greg, why didn't it show up in his tox screens?" Sara asked.

Grissom responded, "It's because a tox screen must be run specifically for scopolamine, which is rarely used, and because of that, doctors don't think to look for it."

Nick replied, "With all of our knowledge and the number of drugs we've found in our victims' systems, I'm surprised we've never heard of devil's breath. Whoever Greg's attacker was, must have gotten their hands on this powder and blew it in his face before he even knew what hit him and then as soon as it took effect, ordered him to kill Judd Eppes for them. It's a perfect way to commit murder."

"Except that we now have a way to prove Greg's innocence," Morgan said as she stood up in excitement of the good news. "We just still need to find our mastermind behind this all."

"I'm sure you will before long, but until something solid comes up, you should all go home and get some rest," Gil stated. "I'll stay here with Greg. You won't be of any help to him if you're too tired to find your real killer."

Morgan objected as she answered, "I'm not going anywhere until I at least know he's going to be all right."

Russell responded, "It's going to be awhile still. The doctor at the prison said that the damage was extensive."

"I know and I don't care," Morgan replied curtly. "Greg was there for me when I was taken hostage by that murderer who stole the medevac. I'm not leaving; not yet."

"I'm staying too," Nick said as well. "Besides, I was hoping Grissom and I could talk. Now is as good a time as any."

Russell nodded and answered, "Very well. Give us a call as soon as you find out what they say. I'll head back to the lab to speak with Conrad and then wait for news from Brass and Finn. Hopefully, they've found our runaway prison guard."

Russell then left the room and Morgan and Nick took a seat as they continued their wait, while Sara just stood there staring at her ex husband until he spoke up saying, "You're looking good. How have you been, Sara?"

"Up until a few days ago, I was doing fine," she responded. "And how about you?"

"I'm well," Gil replied. "I've been visiting an old friend in San Diego. He's ill and his doctors don't think he'll live much longer."

Sara answered, "I'm sorry. Listen, I should get going. I've got some things I have to do. I'll see you later."

As she turned to leave, Grissom spoke up again as he said, "Sara, I know that now isn't the time to talk, but I was hoping that once all this is over and we know that Greg is going to recover, we can talk."

"We'll see," she responded. "Goodbye, Gil."

"Goodbye," he replied back as she left.


	15. Chapter 15

Devil's Breath

Chapter Fifteen

Meanwhile…

Captain Brass and Finn, as well as a few more officers with the department for backup, had arrived at the address the warden had given them, but the guard they were searching for wasn't there, though evidence showed that he had been and had taken off not long before they had gotten there. Clothes were strewn all over the place, the closet had been ransacked, and several drawers were pulled out.

"Jack Curry certainly knows we're after him," Finn said as they slowly looked around the guard's apartment. "What do you suppose the odds are that he left something behind for us to find?"

"Actually, I think the odds just might be in our favor," Brass responded as he reached down to pick up a business card he found on the man's coffee table in the center of the room and held it up for Finn to read. "He was in such a hurry, that he left something important behind. Curry isn't very bright."

She smiled after she finished looking at the card and answered, "People who take bribes from criminals rarely are."

As he looked again at the card, the captain replied, "It looks like we're about to catch two birds with one stone. Let's get going before they can get out of the city."

Across town…

"You were a fool and gave yourself away, then you had the balls to come to me!" a man shouted a few minutes after the ex prison guard had arrived and banged on his door until he finally let him inside, then proceeded to collect his things as quickly as possible. "Do you realize that if you were followed, the cops and CSIs will be here any minute? My business isn't finished!"

"They didn't follow me, but it won't be long before they find me so we should hurry this along!" Jack Curry shouted back. "You did do your job. You drugged the kid and got him to shoot Eppes. The powder is undetectable and there's nothing that can link you to the murder. What happens now isn't your concern."

The other man responded angrily, "You coming here is linking me to the murder. And Greg isn't dead yet. So far, we both have failed."

Jack answered, "Not if I can get out of Vegas on the next flight out to the Cayman Islands on our boss' private jet as promised, but before I can do that, I've got to collect what's left of the money you promised me for making sure Greg Sanders was silenced for good before he could tell his friends anything that might help them. He may not be dead yet, but he will be soon enough. Where is it?"

The man before him stopped his packing for a moment, then slowly leaned up and turned around as he suddenly fired two shots into Curry's chest, causing the guard to fall back on the ground dead. He stared down at the lifeless body coldly for a minute, then replaced his gun back inside his jacket pocket as he finally picked up his bag he had come with, and left his room.

"Hold it right there, Mr. Lovell," Brass called out as he and Finn ran forward and raised their own guns when their suspect stepped outside from his hotel room. "I suggest that you slowly pull out the weapon you just fired moments ago and place it down on the ground, then raise your hands high up in the air unless you want us to put a few rounds in you like we're assuming you just did to your partner, Jack Curry, in there."

"Do as he says, Tom," Finn added. "Neither one of us are in the mood to be pleasant."

Tom replied, "You may have me for killing the guard, but you can't prove I had anything to do with what happened to Greg."

Jim spoke up again as he responded, "Not yet we can't, but we will prove it sooner or later."

"I'm not ready to die for him, but I certainly won't tell you anything either," Lovell answered smugly as he complied with their demands. "He'd have me killed despite your so called protection the moment I step out of your station if I talk. I don't care if you lock me up for killing a prison guard."

"Then, I suggest you prepare for having a needle put in your arm when you're convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Jack Curry and the attempted murder of CSI Greg Sanders," Captain Brass replied as he cuffed his hands behind his back and began to read him his rights. "Tom Lovell, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and may be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights?"

Lovell stared at Jim and then finally responded, "Yeah, I understand them just fine."

As the captain led the man to one of the police cruisers and set him down in its back, Finn spoke up again saying, "If only all of our suspects were as cooperative."

"Let me ask you something," Tom asked before Jim closed the door. "How exactly did you know to come here? Curry said that you wouldn't be on to him for some time yet and you didn't arrive when he did, or I wouldn't have had the time to shoot him."

"We found your business card on his coffee table," Jim answered with a grin. "Maybe giving one to him wasn't such a good idea, but it really made our jobs a bit easier, so thank you."

After he shut the door on their suspect, Julie turned to the captain and stated, "At least we've got him for murder, but it's going to be more difficult to prove he was involved with assaulting Greg and setting him up to murder Judd. He'll have a damn good lawyer, who's going to do everything he can to get him off. I've checked out this agency Lovell works for. The owner's filthy rich, just like the Howard brothers, and pays Tom very well."

Brass asked, "Does this agency appear to be legitimate?"

"Unfortunately yes," Finn replied. "But, they'll take good care of him nonetheless. They're very loyal."

Back at the hospital…

Nearly seven hours passed by since Greg had been rushed into the operating room and the doctors or nurses still had yet to walk out into the waiting room to share with his friends how Greg was doing. During that time, Greg's parents had finally arrived. They would have come sooner, but they had been on a week-long cruise in the Caribbean when they had received word that their son was in the hospital. Needless to say, they were distraught by the news and as Greg had told Grissom back when he had been beaten up by the mob years ago, his mother did freak out as she began to shout, blaming all of his friends for what happened to him, despite none of them being at fault.

"I take it that all of you are here for Greg Sanders?" a doctor spoke as she finally walked out, interrupting the woman's yelling.

"How is he?" Mrs. Sanders asked fearfully. "How is my boy?"

The doctor continued, "He's not well. The truth is, I'm amazed he's made it this long as the wound in his stomach is large and he's lost a considerable amount of blood. We're working on giving him a transfusion and will end up giving him more when it's needed, but the weapon caused major damage, tearing both tissue and muscle, as well as a hole in the bottom of his left lung. He isn't breathing on his own and so we've got him hooked up to a respirator. As for the rest of his injuries, he's got two broken ribs and several that were fractured, his right cheekbone is fractured, his left wrist is broken, and there are several more defensive wounds and bruises. Most of the beating was from his chest down, rather than on his face and head, which is a good thing, as it hopefully won't cause any brain damage. I'm afraid that the next seventy-two hours are critical. We're in the process of having him moved into his private room in the ICU. Once he's settled, you'll be welcome to see him, but I suggest only immediate family members for now."

Morgan quickly wiped a few tears that started to fall in hope of preventing more tears as Nick responded, "That's fine, but we're going to have security officers posted outside his room for his protection and only a small staff here will be allowed to go in to treat him when needed. We'll need a list of names and copies of your IDs to be sure no one else can get in."

"We should be able to make that work," the doctor answered. "I'll be sure to get that taken care of right away. I assure you, we'll do the best we can for him. I am sorry for what's happened. If you need anything else, please let me or one of the nurses know."

"Thank you, doctor," Greg's father replied as he held onto his wife for support as she cried into his shoulder.

The woman in scrubs nodded and then left the waiting area, leaving Greg's parents, Grissom, and the CSIs who had stayed behind alone to take in the news of their friend's condition, then Grissom said softly, "Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, I assure you, your son is a fighter. He won't give up, just as he didn't the last time this happened."

His father spoke up once again saying, "You're right, he is a fighter. What about the charges that have been brought up against him? If… when he does recover, he can't be sent back to prison. He's not a killer."

"Don't worry," Ecklie answered as he walked into the room. "We're going to make sure that doesn't happen."


	16. Chapter 16

Devil's Breath

Chapter Sixteen

D.B. stared through the glass window to the interrogation room at the lone man, who claimed to be Greg's friend twice when they had spoken with him before. Then, he seemed softer, despite the guilt the CSIs sensed from him, but looking at him now, he was cold and hard, just like Trevor Dodd, though less smug. Ecklie stood beside him as they waited for Jim to arrive so he and Russell could begin their interrogation.

After getting maybe an hour of restless sleep, despite how tired Russell was, he came back to the lab after Captain Brass had called him to let him and the others know that he and Finn had caught the second suspect involved in Greg's assaults. Nick and Ecklie had left the hospital to join them, leaving Morgan behind with Greg's parents and Grissom. When Jim walked up to the door, Russell nodded and together they walked into the room, while Nick, Finn, and Ecklie stood and watched from outside.

They took a seat across from Lovell as Jim spoke up first saying, "From the look on your face, you probably have no intention of speaking with us and of course, even if you wanted to, you really can't without your lawyer present, as you've invoked that right when made your phone call to him, but I think we'll go ahead and start until he arrives. It shouldn't be too long now. I just got word he's on his way inside now.

It was then that his lawyer, Adam Matthews, came in as he replied smugly, "Speak of the devil, I have arrived."

"That's an interesting choice of words," Jim said.

"Oh really, and how so?" Adam asked as he took a seat beside his client.

Russell answered, "Because your client used a dangerous drug known among the Colombian cartels as devil's breath, or scopolamine, on our friend in order to get him to kill a man so that he wouldn't have to get his hands dirty, expecting to get away clean. He didn't expect us to discover his involvement, especially just after he killed one of his accomplices. We at least have him on one count of murder, but we plan to get him on more by the time we're done here tonight."

Matthews laughed and responded, "You have no proof he had anything to do with what happened to that CSI. It's tragic the kid decided to get revenge on the man that bullied him relentlessly in school and then was in turn attacked himself and nearly beaten to death by a fellow inmate."

"Yes, attacked by an inmate, as well as a guard, who fled right to Lovell's hotel room just before your client pulled out his gun and killed him," Brass continued. "We know that Greg Sanders was drugged and very soon we'll have the proof of that too, once we get back the second tox screen the doctors will have run on him by now, looking specifically for traces of scopolamine. We are just hoping that your client would fill us in on how he managed to accomplish this."

"Again, you have no proof that he did any of what you believe he's done," the lawyer replied. "And even if he did, he's certainly not going to just admit what he's done to you because you asked him to."

Lovell finally spoke up saying, "As I told you before, I came here to ask him for a favor. Greg was once my best friend and though we had gone our separate ways a long time ago, I would never hurt him."

Brass asked, "But you have no problem shooting a perfect stranger?"

"He broke into my hotel room," Tom answered with a straight face. "He threatened me and so I shot him in self defense."

"That's sounds like an interesting story," Russell responded as he leaned back in his chair and looked over at the lawyer and then again at his defendant. "Let me tell you what we believe happened. We know that Greg left his apartment the night that you and he had planned to meet up to talk. He stopped to fill up his tank and then to get coffee at the diner across from the gas station, but after that, the timeline from then to when we found him in his apartment is unknown. We'll come back to that. Ever since, Greg's life spiraled out of control very quickly. He was brought in here, just like you, questioned like one of our suspects, we had to explain to him that he was under arrest for killing a man, who we soon found out was a bully that tortured him in high school, which turned into the motive for killing him, then, Greg was brutally attacked after a day in prison by an inmate and the man you claimed to have killed in self defense. Now he's currently being kept alive by a couple of machines and fighting for his life. Now back to our missing section of the timeline. We think Greg did meet up with you, somewhere between the gas station and diner and your hotel room, perhaps at a restaurant where you could talk, but before Greg knew what was happening, you suddenly blew the devil's breath into his face, which would have caused him to become very frightened and confused, but not quite submissive yet. The effects of the drug would have taken time and I'm betting that Greg would have struggled and fought against you. If we can find the place he was first attacked, which you can bet we will, I'll bet there's something there that will link us to you. Now, I can see you looking a little nervous. Is there anything you'd like to tell us now, that's different from your story earlier? I mean, ask yourself this, why would a prison guard, who just tried to kill a man, escape from the prison and travel across town to your hotel room to threaten you?"

Tom glared at Russell as he replied, "I have nothing to say to you. You have no proof."

Matthews added, "My client chooses to remain silent from here on out."

"All right," Brass answered. "Have it your way. I have a feeling we'll be back very soon to place you under arrest."

"Yeah, and we'll be right here, talking," the defender responded.

After leaving the room, Jim turned to Russell and his friends and asked, "So, was what you just said in there a bluff or are you really confident we'll find where Greg was initially attacked?"

Russell shrugged as he replied, "I was actually bluffing. I'm not sure we will find point A, but if there is one thing I do know, it's that we are all good at what we do. We will bring him down, one way or another."

"I hope you're right, for Greg's sake," Ecklie answered.

"For all our sakes," Nick responded.


	17. Chapter 17

Devil's Breath

Chapter Seventeen

After Captain Brass and Russell walked out of the interrogation room, Matthews turned to face his client and spoke quietly, "He sent me here to make sure that you haven't said anything to them, or plan to should your balls get squeezed."

Lovell replied, "I'm not talking. I warned him that choosing to use my old friend as our patsy was a mistake, but I did it anyway. Now, you've got to get me out of here."

"You should have thought about that before going and shooting Dodd," Matthews responded. "They have you dead to rights on that count. I'll do what I can. What about what the CSI said about them finding evidence where you first attacked Sanders? Will they find anything linking you to this? More importantly, do you have anything on you that can link you to him?"

"No," Tom answered coldly. "I've been working for him for a long time. Has he lost confidence in me?"

Matthews replied, "To be honest, he's a little unsure of your loyalty right now, which is why I'm here now."

Tom glared at the man as he responded, "I've done everything he's asked of me, everything you've asked of me. What could I possibly have done, that caused you to think of me as disloyal?"

"How about that argument between you two about getting Sanders to pull the trigger using that wonder drug of yours?" Adam Matthews asked. "After more than enough time to come up with a solution on how to get rid of Judd, you finally suggested using your friend, as he actually had a past with the man and the perfect motive for wanting him dead, but then you tried to take it back. You wanted to protect him."

"Greg was once my friend," Lovell answered. "Of course a part of me wanted to keep him out of this, but my first loyalty is to us, not Greg. Friendship isn't one of the perks of my job."

Matthews replied, "Very good. As I said, I'll do what I can to get you out. Just remember, if you tell them anything, you'll eventually be dead too, like Judd. He tried to talk and now his body's on a cold, hard slab in the morgue."

Tom responded, "I know. I was watching when Greg shot him."

As soon as Adam Matthews left Lovell alone again and then left the crime lab to get out of reach from prying eyes and ears of the ones wanting to arrest him, his boss, and client, he pulled out his cell phone and placed a call to the man that hired him to protect them all from prosecution.

When the other end of the line picked up, a voice quickly asked, "_Is he going to be a problem?_"

"Not yet he isn't," Matthews answered. "He appears to be loyal to us, but if I feel that changes, I'll be sure to have him taken care of. What about Sanders? I've heard he's under tight watch now at the hospital instead of still at the prison's infirmary. Should I send someone to make sure that he dies for good this time?"

"_No, he shouldn't be a problem for us anymore_," the voice replied calmly. "_Him remembering whatever he wanted to tell his friends before his attack must have been just a fluke. I was assured that all memories while under the devil's breath's spell would be locked away and sealed in the back of his mind forever. Now, he is hooked up to a number of machines that are the only things keeping him alive. Besides, if luck is on our side, he'll soon die anyway._"

Matthews nodded as he responded, "If that is what you want. What is it you need from me now?"

The man on the other end of the line coldly answered, "_I should have you take care of Lovell, but he's the best mercenary I've ever had work for me. Do whatever it takes to get him released from prison. I've got another job for him._"

On the next morning…

After spending all night in the hospital, both in the waiting room and then finally in Greg's room in the ICU, Morgan lay her head down on his bed at his side, as sleep had finally claimed her, as well as the others, who waited in the room with her; Greg's parents, who sat in chairs at his other side, and Nick, who kept watch until he couldn't any longer as he fell asleep in the chair he had placed across the room. Morgan's father and Grissom had left as soon as they had the chance to see their friend for themselves.

When they had all first gone in, despite the doctors suggesting only his immediate family go in alone, they looked down sadly and fearfully at the man lying in the bed before them with a tube running down his throat and a number of needles hooked up to two IV stands on either side of him. If it weren't for the beeping sounds coming from the machines helping to keep their friend alive, his stillness and lack of color in his face and body would have convinced them that he was dead.

However, that morning brought Morgan the first sign of hope that Greg was still with them as she awoke when she felt his hand begin to stir and tremble, then looked up in time to see his eyes open, though only for a brief moment. They closed again only seconds after Morgan's face appeared in his line of sight. His hand stopped trembling moments after.

Morgan was about to wake the others in case Greg were to wake again, but then after looking down at his face and noticing a tear slipping from the corner of his eye, she changed her mind and just continued to watch him, as she took his hand within hers for comfort and reassurance that he wasn't alone.

"I'm still here, Greg," she whispered softly. "Please, don't give up on us. We all need you, I need you."

Suddenly, Morgan felt his hand wrap around hers in response to her plea, causing her to smile and wipe another tear from her own face as it rolled down her cheek. Little did she realize that from behind her, Nick was watching all this in silence. It was the first time he realized that these two felt more for each other than just the friendship he believed them to have.


	18. Chapter 18

Devil's Breath

Chapter Eighteen

Several days passed and the CSIs still had yet to locate where Greg had first been assaulted, nor had Lovell spoken to them since their interrogation when they had brought him in. Thankfully, Greg had woken up and had been taken off the respirator once the doctors felt he was past the dangerous period, but he still struggled to speak and his friends knew that it wasn't just because of the pain from his attack. Now, only a tube ran under his nose to help him throughout his recovery. Though he was no longer in critical condition, he was far from being out of the woods.

Everyone from the crime lab still continued to work on the case as much as they could, though because it had begun to grow cold, other cases came up that needed their time. Thankfully, due to Ecklie calling on a final favor from his superiors, the drug test proving that scopolamine was found in Greg's system was enough to prove that he was innocent of the murder charge.

As for Tom Lovell, his lawyer was able to get him out on bail even with the severity of the charges brought up against him. Despite the many that became outraged by the judge's ruling, he gave Tom permission to leave Las Vegas in order to get back to his job, as long as he made it back for when his trial began. Luckily, Captain Brass was smart enough to know that the man was more dangerous than they already knew and sent a number of plain clothes detectives to keep their eyes on him. Unfortunately, he did nothing out of the ordinary and the agency in Chicago that he claimed to have worked for appeared to be legit.

On the evening after his parents finally left to go home, Grissom came by the hospital to speak with Greg before he left Vegas himself. When the older man walked into the room, Greg seemed to be asleep, but as soon as he took a seat in the chair beside his bed, Greg was the first to speak up, to Grissom's surprise.

"I would have expected you to have gone home by now," he said softly. "Though I'm glad you're still here. With everyone else coming to visit as much as they have, I haven't had the chance to talk with you alone. It's good to see you again, Grissom."

"And it's good to see you," Gil responded. "I'm only sorry it took you nearly dying for me to come."

Greg smiled as he replied, "It's all right. I know you've been busy."

Gil smiled and then asked, "How are you feeling tonight?"

"I've been better," he answered. "The pain's subsided a bit."

"I can imagine it's not only the pain from the wounds you've received that you're feeling and worried about right now," Grissom responded. "But you don't have to feel you're in this alone. The others are here for you too. You've just got to let them in."

Greg turned his head away as he replied, "I want to, but I put myself in this mess. I never suspected that Tom could be capable of doing this, to me, his best friend, and because I couldn't see it, a man is dead."

Grissom spoke up again after a few moments as he answered, "Judd Eppes would have ended up dead anyway, even if you never came into the picture."

"Yes, but it wouldn't have been by my hands," Greg responded more angrily than he intended. "You all keep trying to reassure me that I'm not at fault and a part of me knows that you're right, but it isn't you who has been haunted for years for killing a young college student, or who had been arrested for pulling the trigger on a bully you once wished would die after he tormented you for nearly four years. Just because I can't remember it, doesn't change the fact that I did it. Maybe God is trying to tell me something."

"Like what?" Gill asked. "Like you're a killer or that you don't deserve to be a CSI? Greg, you're one of the brightest young minds that I've ever had the privilege to work with, to know. I never once questioned my decision to bring you up from the lab to become a CSI. If God is involved in this somehow, I'd say he's the one that's protecting you and allowing you to stay here with us, where you can continue on with the work we are doing here."

Greg turned back to look at his old boss and then replied, "I'd like to believe you. Maybe you're right. Do you ever tire of being so wise?"

Grissom smiled as he answered again, "Sometimes, but never when my wisdom is really needed. Now, get some sleep. I'll see you again on my next trip through."

"You know, before you leave, you should really talk with Sara," Greg responded. "She's doing all right since the two of you split up, but she could use a little help to get her back to her old self, a little encouragement to let her know everything's going to be all right for her too."

"I think you've grown pretty wise too," Gil replied. "Good luck with everything, Greg. Everything's going to be all right, you'll see."

Meanwhile…

Back at the lab, D.B., Nick, and Morgan were currently working on a case involving the murders of two small time drug dealers. With their years of experience in dealing with these types of cases, it wasn't long before they had a pretty good idea who was involved with the killings. All they had left to do was make sure all the evidence they had collected was neatly tied together and then wait for Captain Brass to arrive back with their suspects. Finn and Sara were busy dealing with a different case involving a death at one of Vegas' many casinos; a lucky winner getting killed in a robbery gone bad. They were now off speaking with the owner and head of security at the casino in hope of getting footage of the crime.

As the three still at the lab were working to write up their reports in the break room, Hodges suddenly ran in as he held up a paper and called out, "I think I've got something that might finally help us to nail down where Greg's assault first happened. I didn't think anything of it at first, but it didn't sit right with me that we so far haven't proven your guy, Lovell, isn't going to pay for the right crime, so I went over everything again with a fine tooth comb."

Nick waved his hand impatiently and asked, "So, what is it?"

"When I went over his clothes, I found a trace of what I thought was just dirt particles covering a patch on his shirt, which meant that he was most likely attacked outside somewhere, but then Henry said that he had analyzed a plastic shard that one of you said you had found half lodged inside Greg's skin when you first found him at his apartment," Hodges answered. "Perhaps if you told me that you found the fragment, I would have picked up on this sooner, but…"

"Get to the point, Hodges," Morgan interrupted. "Please."

The lab tech nodded as he responded, "Right, sorry. Anyway, as I'm sure you know that tiny particles of certain kind of plastics and metals can appear to be dirt particles when broken down fine. In the powder on Greg's shirt, I found both traces of plastic and metal. Now, the other morning on the news, the morning after Greg's assault, I remember watching a story about some guy claiming his neon sign had been vandalized after he had taken it down and placed it on the ground on the side of his building until he could replace a few broken bulbs the next morning. When Henry told me about the fragment, he and I went to talk with the guy so we could analyze what was left of the sign and it turns out, it was a match. I'm guessing that when Greg was assaulted, he struggled to fight against his attackers and was thrown down against the sign, causing it to break."

Russell spoke up as he asked, "Why did you think that the sign vandalism and Greg's assault was related?"

"Because, the sign belonged to the owner of the hotel, where Greg's friend was staying while he was here in town," Hodges replied. "The sign was on the ground out behind the building. I can't believe that's just a coincidence."

"So, Greg did make it to the hotel after all," Morgan stated. "We should have searched more than just Lovell's hotel room."

It was then that Brass walked into the room as he spoke up and said, "If you think that's good, try this. I received a call not too long ago from an officer that I sent to keep his eyes on Lovell's lawyer and it's a good thing I did too. Apparently, the man went to go and speak with a man, who had just gotten paroled. According to the officer, a fight between them broke out and before he could do anything, the fight resulted in the lawyer getting stabbed."

Nick asked in surprise, "Is he dead?"

"Yeah, he's dead," Jim answered. "The wound was pretty substantial. I'm guessing that the parolee had a pretty big beef with our guy. Anyway, when I arrived at the scene, I took a look at his cell phone and found a number of calls made to and received from the same number, one of which was made directly after he got out of his meeting with Lovell. It turns out, the number belongs to Howard, Howard, and Associates, a firm that he does not work for. It is a direct line to one, Stephen Howard."

"Stephen Howard," Russell stated in surprise. "Finn and Sara believed that it was the other brother, Dorian, that appeared guilty. Stephen was nothing if not cooperative."

Brass nodded then responded, "It turns out Stephen Howard is the real mastermind and has been responsible for a large number of shady deals, as well as several disappearances and what were made to look like accidental deaths. A couple of his clients and coworkers are already talking in hope of avoiding prison time. I have detectives at the firm investigating right now. Stephen has been arrested and will arrive here shortly."

Morgan replied, "Then, you need to call your detectives following Lovell and have him arrested too."

"Already on it," Jim answered. "You guys did it. Now you can go tell Greg that we've got the real men responsible and that he's finally safe."

"I'm going there now and Captain, thank you," Morgan responded as she reached out and hugged him tightly, then left the room in a hurry."

Later that evening, Morgan sat with Greg in his room and explained everything to him after he woke up as he listened intently, then laid his hand over hers, and said, "Thank you, for believing in me and doing everything you did to find the truth. I owe you."

She smiled as she continued holding his hand and replied, "It's what we do. Besides, you're a good man, Greg. I've known it since I first met you."

It was then that Greg suddenly released her hand and reached up to her cheek, then gently pulled her head down to his own, and kissed her. It was completely unexpected, but she easily complied and kissed him back, then smiled down at him when they finally stopped. He smiled back and continued to stroke her cheek.

Finally, he spoke up again saying, "It will be awhile before I can go dancing again, but if you're interested, I would still love to take you out to that jazz club you asked me to before. What do you say?"

"I would love to," she answered, then leaned down to kiss him again.

The End


	19. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I am honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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